ANY OTHERS?

[BAM17]

Here is my story. I had lasik this past Wed. 3/19. Had the procedure...and was sent home with my drops and told to take a nap. Went home, put my drops in....closed my eyes to take a nap. When I woke up, I opened my eyes and had pain in both eyes followed with blury vision. I called my surgeon immediately and he told me to come right in. When I arrived, they examined my eyes and told me that both flaps were dislocated. I did not rub or touch my eyes....I simply opened them. They took me into the operating room and immediately fixed the flaps, and put a protective lens over them. The lens was taken off today....my vision is ok, but not great. Has this happened to anyone else on this forum? Is my prognosis still as good even though this happened to me? Any info. would be helpful. I hope the protective lens was not taken out too soon....what if this happens again to me?

[LasikExpert]

Has this happened to anyone else on this forum?

I don't know if you will hear from someone in this forum, but spontaneous dislocation of flaps is almost never heard of. The reason is that the cornea "sucks".

The cornea is nourished by the fluids from behind the cornea and the oxygen in front of the cornea. This exchange causes a small suction within the cornea. This internal suction holds down the flap within a few seconds after surgery. This is why bandage contact lenses and eye patches are not normally required after Lasik.

It is possible that you rubbed your eyes in your sleep, and it is (more?) possible that during your sleep your eyes became dry and stuck to the inside of your eye lids. When you opened your eyes there was enough extra friction to cause your flaps to shift. A lubricating eye gel at night may be appropriate. Ask your doctor about Lasik dry eye treatment techniques.

Is my prognosis still as good even though this happened to me?

Your doctor is the best to tell you this, but it does not sound like you suffered any permanent damage. I suspect that your eyes are very angry at the moment and there is some corneal edema (inflammation), which can cause changes in refractive error and poor vision.

Any info. would be helpful.

Expect your doctor to monitor closely for something called epithelial ingrowth. It is a problem that is relatively benign and may not require treatment if it does develop, but you can cross that bridge if you ever come to it.

The flaps may have a bit of macrostriae, that your doctor will watch. If either epithelial ingrowth or macrostriae occur, the doctor may recommend a flap lift, flooding the area with a balanced solution, and repositioning the flaps. That is likely the worst case scenario.

In the unlikely event of a sudden loss of vision quality (things get whitish and hazy at all distances) in the next few days/weeks, contact your doctor immediately. Other things can happen after trauma to the flap that may need urgent attention.

....what if this happens again to me?

Contact your doctor immediately. The cornea is remarkably resilient even after abuse like you describe. As I said, your eyes are probably pretty angry at the moment, but it seems reasonable from what you have described to expect a successful outcome. Yes, it can be pretty scary, but there does not seem to be any reason to panic.

[BAM17]

Thank you so much for your quick response. I do want to follow up this morning to tell others that my vision is very good this morning. I am lubricating fequently and functioning quite well this morning.

I do have one more question....the flap "not sucking" or sticking if you will....could that have been from something not going quite right from the procedure itself? Could my surgeon have made an error when cutting the flap? Or did most likely my eye-lid just stick to the flap? I definitely did not rub my eyes...as I had a shield on the entire time. My surgeon also said this was extremely rare...he had only seen one other case of it.

I also want to note that my surgeon has been extremely good. He picked up the phone immediately the day that this happened and saw me immediately. He then saw me both days afterwards, and will see me again Monday. He spent one hour with me yesterday....checking my eyes in the slit lamp for striae....explaining each thing he was doing...calming my fears. And on top of everything, he gave me his personal cell phone number in the event anything were to happen after hours. He did report to me yesterday that he saw no micor/macro striae....and the day of "re-floating" my flaps, he had another surgeon come in to check his work. Although this was a traumatic experience, I want others to know that there are surgeons out there who genuinely care about their patients....and their long-term outcomes.

[Pappy]

I do have one more question....the flap "not sucking" or sticking if you will....could that have been from something not going quite right from the procedure itself? Could my surgeon have made an error when cutting the flap? Or did most likely my eye-lid just stick to the flap? I definitely did not rub my eyes...as I had a shield on the entire time. My surgeon also said this was extremely rare...he had only seen one other case of it.

The eye it self has a natural negative pressure so when the flaps get put back they naturally get "sucked" down.

In all my reading you are the first person I've ever heard of have the flaps naturally lift. It could be possible your eyes were do dry when you went to sleep that the flaps and the eyelid "glued" together so when you open your eyes they dislocated.

Very strange, keep posting your updates and best of luck with your healing.

[BAM17]

Hi all,
Just wanted to share an update. I am 8 days post-op right now. Saw my surgeon today. My eyes are healing nicely. They are dry and a bit itchy....but to be expected. I'm basically back to functioning in my normal every day life....sans glasses! My right eye is better than my left. It's still too early to say if the left is undercorrected...but with both eyes together I am very happy. I liked Pappy's comments in another post para-phrased as I didn't get surgery to see the eye chart 20/20...I got is so that I can function well in my life with less dependence on corrective lenses. So far so good......and I'm looking forward to it getting even better as my healing progresses. Hang in there everyone! I'll keep you updated.